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Queen's Silver Jubilee

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1977 saw the Queen's Silver Jubilee. I was a school child, just about to leave junior school. Two things stick in my mind some 27 years later: first all the school children were given a commemorative leather bookmark. Secondly, the street party we had. I lived in a suburban village called Pyrford, near to Woking in Surrey. Lincoln Drive was a mass of red white and blue bunting, and the man from the newsagent was cooking the barbecue. I remember he looked hot and bothered, and the food slid off the paper plate my mother had me perch on my lap while sitting on someone's wall. The children's fancy dress was quite amusing. My mother wanted me to go dressed in drag, I remember I refused and went as a nutty scientist. I didn't win anything!

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Do You Remember Queen's Silver Jubilee?

Do You Remember Queen's Silver Jubilee?

  • Anonymous user
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    saw the Queen at Irvine shopping mall that year. The council spent a small fortune on laying a red carpet all the way through the new building for the Queen to walk down. She put ONE footstep on it- she walked close to the crowd barriers talking to the people waiting there to see her and ignored all the dignitaries. I was quite impressed by this even though I was only seven.
  • Anonymous user
    on
    Saw the Queen on her visit to Bath that year
  • Anonymous user
    on
    I was in my first year of junior school at the time- we were all given fairly cheap souvenir mugs, can't remember what happened to mine. Like virtually all other streets in the UK, we had a massive street party, complete with children's fancy dress competition and a 'best decorated house' contest, which was won by a showy Welsh neighbour called Vera Thompson who won a carriage clock. My sister & I both entered the fancy dress, me as Spiderman and Sis as 'An English Rose' (strictly a tactical choice, as we're all Welsh!!) Anyway, she won her class and received a prize of a geometry set, which I think she still has- I didn't win anything.... Looking back on it, it was all so utterly crass and escapist, when the entire world was falling to bits and society itself looked set to collapse. Thank GOD for The Sex Pistol's 'God Save The Queen' ("there's no future in England's dreaming!") Punk was just a Godsend antidote to all the Royalist sycophancy- the Pistol's song really reached no.1 in the charts, but was deliberately not registered as such by Radio 1 who said it was no.2, refused to play it, and claimed some Rod Stewart number had the top spot instead.
  • Anonymous user
    on
    I was living in Canada at the time of the Silver Jubilee, so my parents bought me a Silver Jubilee coin for remembrance. I still have it.
  • Anonymous user
    on
    I remember being given the Jubilee coin at school but I also remember my elder brother getting some sort of travel sweets in a round tin has anyone else had these travel sweets. neighbours painted their concrete fence posts red white and blue,not heard of nowadays too many foreigners
  • Anonymous user
    on
    There was a real party atmosphere that summer, flags everywhere, the excitement of spotting a Jubilee bus - they painted 25 of the old Routemaster buses silver. We did Jubilee projects at junior school, the Girl Guide camp I went to had a Jubilee theme, there was a jubilee song contest on tv. Seems like the whole summer was bright and sunny, and there was a wonderful sense of community.
  • Anonymous user
    on
    I remember getting a Jubilee Crown (a big coin) in junior school and the street party was awesome!! Nowadays if you suggested a street party you'd be locked up!
  • Anonymous user
    on
    I had just finsihed my A levels at Wellfield Secondary School in County Durham, when myself and a friend were asked to embroider the county crest as the official present for the Queen. We attended the official presentation at County Hall and received a commemorative photo. I have no idea where it went, but enjoyed the whole event. Mary now living in Yorkshire.
  • Anonymous user
    on
    More seems to have been made of the Silver in '77 than the Golden Jubilee in '02 & Alec is very right in his earlier post on this, the community spirit isn't the same. I remember the comics of the day ( Whoopee, Buster, Whizzer & Chips etc. ) having commemorative covers/posters of all the characters waving flags & parading. And, of course, the inscriptions on Man Utd's shirts in that years FA Cup Final.
  • Anonymous user
    on
    On July 6 1977, I went into hospital - the Queen Elizabeth Children's Hospital in London. They asked my Mum to bring me early in the morning, and in the afternoon, they took all the kids outside, lined us up along the side of the road, and the Queen did a walkabout. Every kid was given a Union Jack to wave, I still have mine! And then the next day, having my tonsils out.

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